A new plan for the Grand Old Party

From Joe for America.com:

In light of the 2013 election with Chris Christie getting elected and Ken Cuccinelli getting defeated, the Republican Party establishment will look at the results and think that in 2014 and 2016 that they need to go moderate; and they will be wrong. There are several problems with the Republican Party and they need to be addressed if the party is going to be viable and effective.

   •    The Party needs to decide who and what they are.

Are they conservative? Are they moderate? Are they ideologically pure or is there a big tent mindset? As someone who is an aspiring campaign manager and has studied politics most of her life, I have a solution. I think that the Republican Party needs to be primarily conservative with moderate elements but those moderate elements MUST understand that they are in the minority in this party and that they can’t tell the majority what to do. The party needs to be conservative to provide voters a clear choice. I often hear people say “There’s no difference between the parties.” Any more that’s true when speaking of the GOP establishment and the Democrat Party; but contrast the Tea Party with the Democrats and you get a stark contrast. GOP history should be a lesson that when we run conservatives such as Ronald Reagan and how George W. Bush was sold to us, then we win. But when we run moderates like Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney we lose. So the GOP establishment needs to stop dead their headlong rush to embrace the Christie 2016 Presidential campaign NOW. The GOP needs to be looking around for articulate, charismatic conservatives who are women and minorities to break the stereotypical old, white guy candidate. Sen. Ted Cruz would be an excellent choice as would Gov. Bobby Jindal and Gov. Susannah Martinez. Until and unless the party decides that it’s conservative with moderate elements then the party will continue to struggle and be ineffective because it will continue to be at odds with itself. [read more]

A good detailed plan. The rest of the points are:

• The GOP establishment needs to recognize that they are not listening to their base and are no longer connected with it.
• The Party needs a 21st Century version of The Contract with America.
• The Party needs to package the message to make it easy to understand, personal and yet in line with the principles of the Party.